Apollo Global Management co-founder Leon Black was sued by a woman who claims the billionaire raped her in 2002.
The lawsuit, which alleges Black assaulted Cheri Pierson of Virginia after she was introduced to him by Jeffrey Epstein, was filed Monday in state court in New York by the same lawyers representing former Russian model Guzel Ganieva. Ganieva, who also claims Black raped her, sued him last year, accusing him of defamation for calling their relationship a “consensual affair” and claiming she had extorted money from him over it.
Pierson’s suit adds another layer of litigation to the acrimonious dispute between Black and Ganieva, which began when she wrote on Twitter in March 2021 that she was “sexually harassed and abused by him for years.”
